About Verity

About Verity

Working in partnership with the community, we strive to eliminate all forms of violence, with a special focus on sexual assault and abuse. Sexual assault is an unacceptable form of oppression that is destructive to the lives of the survivors, as well as harmful to the lives of their families and friends.

Verity facilitates healing and promotes the prevention of violence by providing counseling, advocacy, intervention, and education in our community. Learn more here.

Our History

Verity was founded in 1974 as Women Against Rape, a grassroots organization for those traumatized by the rape of women. The agency included a phone number that women and survivors of assault could call for emotional support. Our crisis line is still the only one of its kind in Sonoma County, and it operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Today Verity is managed by a Board of Directors numbering up to 12, with daily activities performed by a paid staff of over 20 people and over 70 volunteers. Learn more about the numbers of people we served in the last year here.

In the past 40 years, the organization has undergone many changes to be able to provide more services for the people of our community. Our staff and volunteers all complete extensive trainings, learn specific ways to help victims, which include not only women and girls, but survivors of all genders, and the families of victims. They learn about the devastating effects of rape trauma syndrome, the positive or negative impacts of law enforcement and court procedures, both physical and mental health issues, and all the resources available in our community. This is just a part of the training and information of each of our staff members and volunteers receive on an ongoing basis. These individuals give their time to answer the crisis line, and are also available to come with the victims and their families when asked. This can be for any number of reasons: to make the police report, to make a court appearance and testimony, to have a medical exam at the hospital, or to receive any legal support that could be needed.

Wishes, Hopes, and Dreams

In 2016, we started asking our community what its wishes, hopes, and dreams are for our shared future. If you have wishes, hopes, or dreams to share with us, we would love for you to come in to our office and add your wish to our board. Listen to what a few of our own dreams of the future are:

What Verity means:

Verity means different things to different people. Here’s what it means to some of us: